Fazil Say

In a case that has been condemned by PEN, Amnesty International, and others, classical music luminary, Fazil Say, has been convicted and sentenced to a ten-month suspended sentence for tweeting messages that were perceived as insulting to Islam.  Say has been convicted under Article 216, “incitement to hatred or hostility.”  Cases like Say’s highlight both the overly broad language of the law and Turkey’s inclination to use the law to “to prosecute criticism of dominant beliefs and power structures.”

Update 1: See the Amnesty statement on the conviction here.

Update 2: See interview with  Amnesty International Turkey Researcher, Andrew Gardner here.